Dangerously high?

Lawmakers looking to ban 'herbal blends' that mimic pot.

HARRISBURG — — For Alec Jackson, smoking K2 was like getting high again for the first time.

"It kind of feels like weed," said Jackson, a 20-something from Hummelstown, Dauphin County. "Everything is in slow motion."

Jackson was describing the mental and physical effects of a concoction of herbs and spices sprayed with chemicals and sold as incense in many smoke shops and even some gas stations.

As sales of the "herbal blends" that produce a marijuana-like high are heating up, lawmakers are pushing to see the products go up in smoke. In Pennsylvania, the fight is spearheaded by Rep. Jennifer Mann, D-Lehigh, who has introduced a bill aimed at banning possession of the oregano-like blends.

"There are misconceptions that the product is safe because it is legal," Mann said. Nine states already have laws banning various chemicals used in the incenses to provide the high, and similar laws are pending in five other states, including New York and New Jersey.

There are many names for the blends: Spice, Red Dawn, Dragon, Spirit and Mamba, but the most widely recognized label is K2.

As sales of the incense rise, so do calls to hospitals and poison control centers. The American Association of Poison Control Centers received more than 750 calls in the first seven months of this year in relation to the blends' adverse effects. That's up from a total of 13 calls the year before.

Matthew Cook, a medical toxicologist at the Lehigh Valley Health Network, said this year he has treated four patients who were adversely affected from smoking the blends. The patients experienced fast heart rates, nausea and, most prominently, anxiety. Cook said that all of the patients were 18 years old, and all had used a product labeled Black Magic.

Cook said he saw the first case in May, and three more followed in June. All were in and out of the hospital in a few hours, he said. Extreme and rare reactions can include hallucinations.

"For fragrance purposes only. Not for human consumption," reads the label on a 3-gram pack of "K2 Pineapple" that was marked for $75 at Natures Way, an unassuming smoke shop in Middletown, Dauphin County, with gray siding and barred windows.

Bryan Doherty, a spokesman for the Philadelphia division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the blend has been on the agency's radar for about five years, but it has really expanded in the last year or so.

At Hemp's Above, a tobacco shop in Cumberland County, the line for the incense was eight people long with 20 minutes to go before closing time last Wednesday, and calls were still coming in after the doors were locked.

Brian Edmondson, the shop's owner, said he began carrying the incense in May, and it has taken over as the shop's main moneymaker.

Edmondson, who was sporting a T-shirt for the incense brand King Krypto, said the customers fall into no single demographic. He said he refuses to sell to minors and about a quarter of his customers are older than 50. Just last week he said he talked with a 69-year-old woman looking to buy incense for her 85-year-old husband.

Anthony Scalzo, medical director of the Missouri Poison Center at SSM Glennon Children's Hospital, said investigations by his state's DEA found stores making more than $7,000 a day on the herbs.

Edmondson said judging by his store's recent sales, that figure isn't very far off.

Scalzo said while most patients are treated with fairly routine procedures and can be out of the hospital in a matter of hours, more severe reactions — including hallucinations or "bad trips" — have been reported.

Although ingredients are typically listed on the packets, the recipes sound more like a wizard's spell book than an illicit drug. One type, Red Dawn Special Crop, lists such ingredients as "everlasting flower," "white lotus" and "strawberry leaf." Another, Wicked X, lists "marshmallow leaf" and "catnip."

What wasn't listed among the ingredients is the chemical most often sprayed on the potpourri-like concoction of flowers and leaves to produce the high, according to Scalzo.

The chemical, JWH-018, was developed about 15 years ago by a professor at Clemson University in South Carolina who was during research on the brain's cannabinoid receptors, which help control food cravings, Scalzo said. It was never intended to find its way behind the counters of smoke shops, he added.

JWH-018 is most often used, though chemical cousins JWH-073, CP 47,497, HU-210, HU-211 and others have been found in its place.

"Anybody trying these substances is like playing Russian roulette because they are spraying [unregulated] chemicals," said DEA spokesman Doherty.

Doherty said as far as the DEA has been able to determine, the majority of the chemicals' manufacturers are in Europe, China and the Cayman Islands.

When it comes to stocking the products for his shop, Edmondson said he asks friends to first test samples, and he tries to stick with U.S. distributors. He acknowledges the distributors don't disclose where the product originates.